So far, so great. Despite having good experience with the Brother product I was replacing, I researched this purchase extensively before settling on another Brother. This printer sits on a network that supports my home office and everyone else in the household. In the week I have owned it, I have already tested some of its limits, printing huge Powerpoint documents and scanning large documents in duplex mode. This printer has preformed flawlessly. Text is crisp, colors are vibrant, speed is very good, and I love its quiet operation.

I read the negative feedback about printing and scanning photographs, but even as a photographer by hobby, I would not ask this of a business device and therefore cannot comment.

I also have not had any issues with reported excessive paper curling or overly dark scans. The anti-curling setting seems to work just fine, and scans look good for my needs.

The only problem I had was setting up the printer to print in duplex mode. The duplex setting on the printer had no effect on the operation of this feature I had to contact support to learn that I had to set this capability up within the printer driver on my Mac. Initially Support was not real helpful, but with perserverence I got to the right person (Scott?) who was very helpful. This is a fantastic feature for cutting down on paper consumption and was one of the reasons I chose this model.

So far I am impressed. I don't think a better option exists when balancing quality, features and total cost of ownership.

Expertise: Professional or Expert

Use: Home Office (Business Use)

Brother products owned: 2

9 of 9 found this review helpful.

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Review 2 for MFC-9970CDW

Overall Rating:

(1out of5)

Duplexing Jams Constantly

Date:March 20, 2013

By CSCC

The is printer has nice features but unfortunately, my office has concluded that we cannot use the duplexing feature. When duplexing, it jams repeatedly in the rear of the machine, then requires 10 minutes to cool down. Even after allowing the 10 minutes to elapse, it will immediately jam again if we try to print duplex. Sometimes after jamming while duplexing, it will also jam when we try to print single-sided after the original jam occurred.

This printer does the following great:1. Print Balck & White2. Print color documents3. Duplex Print4. Duplex scan with one pass!5. Copy is goodHere is what is wrong:1. Printing color photographs is inferior. The color and clarity is just not there.

Expertise: Professional or Expert

Use: Home Office (Business Use)

Brother products owned: 2

4 of 4 found this review helpful.

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Review 4 for MFC-9970CDW

Overall Rating:

(4out of5)

Replacement for older MFC

Date:October 2, 2011

By InfrequentReviewer

from NM

I got the MFC-9970CDW to replace a Brother MFC-8500 for use at home. The 8500 has been a workhorse for many years, so I was predisposed to look at another Brother. I was pleased to see how highly rated the 9970 is. So far I am very pleased with the purchase.

Things I like:*-Print quality. I saw the reviews that said photo print quality is lacking. I don't use the printer to make photo prints, so that is not a big deal, but I have printed a few documents that had embedded images, and they turned out great. For my uses, the print quality has been outstanding.*-The touch screen. It makes navigating the menus much easier than on other printers I've had.*-Legal size flat bed scanner. I have a stand- alone flat bed scanner that I will be able to get rid of and free up space. I am moving toward a paperless home, and the 9970's flat bed scanner with ADF is a big step in the right direction.*-Everything worked right out of the box. I was a ble to quickly connect to my network and access the 9970 from both home computers. I used Ethernet, so I can't comment on the wireless feature.

A few things to consider.*-Its big. It does not take up too much square footage on a table or stand, but it is tall and heavy (almost 70 pound). I knew this going in, so no complaint, but you need to plan for it. It was a chore to get it to the second floor. Brother, however, designed a fantastic packaging box, so you do not have to lift it out of the box. The box lifts over the printer.*-It is a little loud. Not a big deal.*-There is a Basic Users' Guide and an Advanced Guide. Only the basic guide is provided in hard copy. The advanced guide is electronic. I like hard copy manuals.*-One complaint about documentation. The included CD comes with PaperPort 12 OCR software. If you install the driver from the CD, PaperPOrt is installed, too (PaperPort is not a separate install option). I downloaded the (newer version) of the driver and installed from the downloaded file instead of from the CD. It did not include PaperPort. When I tried to install PaperPort from the CD, it looked as though the installation routine was going to reinstall the older version of the printer driver. I searched around the CD to find the installation program for PaperPort and installed it manually (on the CD go to \paperport\paperport\setup.exe). I suspect many people will go to the website for the most recent drivers, and the documentation was not clear on how this impacted the ability to install PaperPort. In fact, PaperPort is not mentioned anwhere in the documentation or the CD install menu. Brother should improve this.*-Other reviewers have noted that it is a little inconvenient to remove printed or copied documents from the output slot. Its true. Its minor but something you encounter every time you use the machine.

As I said above, overall I am very pleased with this machine. I got a great price at Staples, and the performaqnce so far has been excellent.

Expertise: Advanced Amateur

Use: Home (Personal Use)

Brother products owned: 3

4 of 4 found this review helpful.

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Review 5 for MFC-9970CDW

Overall Rating:

(5out of5)

Impressive

Date:January 5, 2014

By TheBear

from California

I usually do not write reviews, but wanted to give credit to Brother for this All In One machine.

I use the Brother All In One for mostly printing and scanning. I also use for monthly checks and envelopes printing.

So where do I begin?1) INSTALLATION:The most impressive thing was how easy it was to install the software and actually work!! Had an HP printer before and will not go back. On my recommendation, my Mom got a Brother printer and even she found it easy to work. I did have a minor technical issue for advanced features and technical support was "outstanding" and US based representative.

2) PRINTING: I am happy with quality, both black and white and color. Nice thing it the double sided printing capability. Comes in handy when needed.

3) SCANNING: This is probably the main reason I like this printer. I scan all my working documents and back them up to the cloud. So my filing cabinet and now shrinking in size!!! I also scan my receipts for my bookkeeper and tax purposes, no more boxes and do not have to worry about ink disappearing after a few years. The flexibility of scanning options and which folder to put them in makes this very convenient and can also be advanced if needed.

4) CHECKS AND ENVELOPESAfter I fired HP about 5 years ago, my replacement was a Dell Laser black and white printer. My only complaint with Dell Laser printer was is the FEEDER DID NOT WORK. I prefer using the feeder to load the checks and envelopes into the printer instead of opening the tray (personal preference). I called Dell technical support several times and they could not fix it. So guess what they suggest? Buying a new printer! I think it's Dell salespeople pretending to be technical support, just to make a sale. I was tempted but did not take the bait.

The feeder on the Brother machine works very well. Easy to feed and even tells you which side up to put the checks and envelope.

The only draw back I could tell you are two things: 1) it's the largest All In One I have ever purchase (home office use), so make sure you check the dimensions of the space you want to put it.2) The glue on the envelope melts a little going thru the laser printer and slightly sticks together. A minor annoyance since I only do a few envelopes a month. For heavy users, consider the tape envelopes (no licking required), I think this should help the matter.

To summarize, I am very impressed with Brother from product, customer service and support.

Expertise: Advanced Amateur

Use: Home Office (Business Use)

Brother products owned: 1

3 of 3 found this review helpful.

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Review 6 for MFC-9970CDW

Overall Rating:

(5out of5)

The Best Multi-Functional Laser Printer ever

Date:October 28, 2013

By Pandabear9

from Houston, TX

I work at home and I decided to upgrade from an injet all-in-one to a laser. I was tired of buying the expensive inkjet cartridges, the slowness of the printer, and lack of duplex printing functions. I researched printers for months on all the major sites looking at the functions, reviews, price, etc. I decided on purchasing a Brother MFC-9970CDW because of the functionality, the high reviews and the affordable price. I have been so pleased with this all-in-one. I know that price/page is cheaper than with an inkjet, it's faster, it's easier and I love the duplex printing on both sides of the paper so I can conserve the amount of paper that I use. I'm sure I haven't even touched a small percentage of what this machine can actually do, but I am so impressed.

Expertise: Professional or Expert

Use: Home Office (Business Use)

Brother products owned: 3

3 of 3 found this review helpful.

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Review 7 for MFC-9970CDW

Overall Rating:

(5out of5)

Fabulous Machine

Date:December 24, 2012

By Dovey

from Sandia, TX

I absolutely adore our new Brother MFC-9970CDW All-in-one Machine. Once I got everything linked together (Computer, router, printer), every job has been so effortless. We have a land surveying company and it makes my job easier as manager/co-owner. When I called for assistance on anything, the representatives were so friendly and knowledgable. I am very satisfied.

Expertise: Advanced Amateur

Use: Home Office (Business Use)

Brother products owned: 2

3 of 3 found this review helpful.

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Review 8 for MFC-9970CDW

Overall Rating:

(5out of5)

Okay it's big but.....

Date:August 9, 2012

By Frodoboy

from California

I've owned the MFC-9840 for several years and loved it but it got semi-destroyed in a fire (it still works by the way). I thought "What am I going to replace it with now?" Then I saw the MFC-9970! This is the logical step up from the MFC-9840.

The MFC-9970 takes much less time to warm up and prints very fast. The MFC-9840 was upstairs and whenever we wanted to print anything, by the time we got up the stairs, the printer was just thinking about getting started. The MFC-9970 has already finished the job when we get up to it. Very fast!!!

The warm up time is much faster and I love that I don't have to wait for a minute just for the scanner to "warm up" when I want to copy something. It only takes a few seconds and it's ready to go!

The print quality of the MFC-9970 is excellent as was the MFC-9840 and it also takes less time to print a double sided sheet. Double sided manuals appear to print almost twice as fast!

The fax is a fax and our country connection is very slow so I can't comment much on that other than it works flawlessly.

The document feeder tray is much faster than the MFC-9840 doing a double sided document in only a few seconds.

The menu is now a lot easier to navigate with the LCD screen and the front panel controls are easy to use although Brother did reverse the black and color scan buttons from the MFC-9840 so that takes a little getting used to if you're coming from the MFC-9840 like I am.

My one complaint, as always with Brother (and almost all other printer manufacturers), is that they put "starter" toner cartridges in their machines so you have to purchase new ones fairly soon if you print a lot. I wish they'd just put standard cartridges in it to start. It is also very BIG but it does so much so well, that is not really a problem if you have the space and unless you have to move it. It is a little lighter than the MFC-9840 though!

All in all, the MFC-9970 is quite an improvement in speed over the MFC-9840 which was a very solid worker for years. I love my new MFC-9970CDW!!

Expertise: Professional or Expert

Use: Home (Personal Use)

Brother products owned: 3

3 of 3 found this review helpful.

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Review 9 for MFC-9970CDW

Overall Rating:

(4out of5)

Great features/speed but build quality ??

Date:November 20, 2013

By InsuranceOffice

from Louisville, KY

I am a huge Brother fan and have owned several of their products over the years. Bought the top of the line 9970CDW and have not been disappointed in its functionality. We do a good bit of scanning and this machine is really fast compared to the 8860DN we now use as backup. Print speed seems to be as advertised. Color quality is OK - about what you would expect from laser. Noticed the difference in build quality from the 8860 as soon as we pulled out the paper tray and lifted the ADF cover. No problems so far after several months and thousands of pages through scan and print, but only time will tell if it will last. Feel like we have to be a little more gentle with this unit compared to the old 8860 workhorse that is still kicking. Overall, would definitely recommend based on functionality and previous experience with Brother products.

Expertise: Advanced Amateur

Use: Small Business (Up to 25 Employees)

Brother products owned: 3

3 of 3 found this review helpful.

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Review 10 for MFC-9970CDW

Overall Rating:

(4out of5)

Good for a Home Business

Date:January 9, 2013

By rbarts

The printer is bulky, but works well for a home business. It's particularly nice that it has wifi so computers can be used from anywhere in the home. Print quality is excellent. Sometimes there is a delay from when the print is issued until when the printer starts printing. This could be a wifi issue (but not likely given the speed of my network).

Expertise: Professional or Expert

Use: Home Office (Business Use)

Brother products owned: 4

3 of 3 found this review helpful.

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Review 11 for MFC-9970CDW

Overall Rating:

(2out of5)

Disappointed not compatible with Apple Airport

Date:October 22, 2012

By Macuser123

Warning: This printer is not compatible with Apple's Airport Extreme wireless router. In order to set up the connection, you have to input the network key. The network key on an Airport Extreme is 64 characters but Brother only accepts 63 characters. Brother tech support told me to ask Apple to change the network key to something shorter for me. (Right.)

Use: Home Office (Business Use)

Brother products owned: 2

3 of 3 found this review helpful.

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Review 12 for MFC-9970CDW

Overall Rating:

(1out of5)

Nothing But problems

Date:June 9, 2014

By Yogi

from Iuka, Kansas

We tried this machine and they had to replace it twice within the same month. Constantly had problems with scanning and faxing using wireless.

Expertise: Professional or Expert

Use: Small Business (Up to 25 Employees)

Brother products owned: More than 5

3 of 3 found this review helpful.

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Review 13 for MFC-9970CDW

Overall Rating:

(5out of5)

Awesome Upgrade

Date:May 15, 2014

By JAlanL

from Big Bear Lake, CA

I had a Brother MFC-9450cdn for years prior to purchasing this one. I actually wore out the old printer. This one feeds beautifully, scans both sides at once, prints fast and has great quality and is an overall great purchase. It's a little large for a home-based business, but is certainly worth the money. By all means buy it!

1. Unpacking and setup of the MFC-9970 was easy - especially compared to other similar class machines I've unpacked and setup.2. Workstation software installed properly on WinXP, Win7-64 and WinSrvr SB.3. Scanning to PC works well - all PC's appeared in MFC control panel. Scanning via network is fast.4. 2nd paper tray requires virtually no installation. Lift the printer up, place the second tray on the bottom, put the printer on top of the second tray, and it is installed and working. We use the second tray for 8.5X11 - holds a full ream. We use the top tray for 8.5X14 legal.5. Printing is fast, with accurate colors and shading. 6 reams and still no paper jam - good paper handling.6. The printer also handles multiple jobs quite well - no reboots.

Only two negatives; (i) the output "hole in the middle" is not well designed - difficult to get 8.5X11 paper out of the stacker, and (ii) it is not possible to simultaneously operate both wifi and wired network interfaces. We had to make a choice, and finally settled on the wired interface because scanned file transfers are much faster. Unfortunately, there are two workstations that can only be connected via WiFi, so the printer is not available to them.

Expertise: Advanced Amateur

Use: Small Business (Up to 25 Employees)

Brother products owned: More than 5

2 of 2 found this review helpful.

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Review 17 for MFC-9970CDW

Overall Rating:

(5out of5)

very good color small office work horse

Date:December 24, 2012

By PamL

from Boston, MA

We bought this after struggleing with ink jet multi functions for years. This printer is reliable, fast and perfect for our small work group needs. We run an all macintosh office and this printer works great with all ages of Mac systems and iPads/iPhones. I highly reccomend this printer! Not the least expensive but you get what you pay for.

Expertise: Professional or Expert

Use: Small Business (Up to 25 Employees)

Brother products owned: More than 5

2 of 2 found this review helpful.

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Review 18 for MFC-9970CDW

Overall Rating:

(5out of5)

It is a great product!

Date:December 24, 2012

By Ovation

from Charlotte, NC

I have really liked this product and we use two other Brother All-In-One machines at our office and find them extremely reliable and helpful.

Expertise: Advanced Amateur

Use: Medium Business (26 to 999 Employees)

Brother products owned: 4

2 of 2 found this review helpful.

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Review 19 for MFC-9970CDW

Overall Rating:

(5out of5)

Exactly what I expected

Date:March 23, 2012

By RParnell

from Topeka, KS.

MacMall is the best experience I have had with ordering on the web ever! Best price, good and accurate product info, delivery was faster that promised.As for the product…I am totally satisfied there too. Does exactly what I need and expected it to do. No problems and I’ve been using this for 5 months now. Very easy wireless set up. Software works great and makes it easy to do what you want for each task. This is perfect for home or small business use.

Expertise: Advanced Amateur

Use: Home Office (Business Use)

Brother products owned: 1

2 of 2 found this review helpful.

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Review 20 for MFC-9970CDW

Overall Rating:

(5out of5)

Extremely satisfied

Date:February 16, 2012

By Bob1234

from Southern New Jersey

I am extremely satisfied with this printer. It does everything, it does it easily, and it does it well. I have a small business & print about 50 pages a day. I was a bit leery that it would not meet my expectations, but it has exceeded them. The faxing and scanning features are equally as impressive. I’ve dealt with their customer service, they are great. I’ve read negative reviews about paper curling, it was never an issue. I can’t wait for my printer at home to break so I can buy another one for home.